


The Rickest Rick

by MeganRosenberg



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Adventure, Drugs, Gen, Swearing, Violence, alternate rick, violent aliens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 20:09:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11699037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganRosenberg/pseuds/MeganRosenberg
Summary: An alternate version of Rick steals Morty and takes him on an adventure to harvest science resources. Though this version of his grandfather is even more reckless, careless, and even more violent than the Rick he knows, Morty still has no idea the man he's with is not his grandpa... Morty's real Rick will not be pleased when he discovers what's going on...





	1. Chapter 1

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Chapter 1

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It wasn't often that Morty was able to sleep for a full eight hours at a time anymore. He frequently didn't even manage to get four. Ever since his grandfather Rick had come back into his life, the old man woke him in the middle of the night to go off on some crazy adventure more often than not and by the time they finally returned home, Morty's mind was usually racing and traumatized, making him unable to sleep even in his state of exhaustion.

Because of his past experiences, Morty was not at all surprised when his bedroom door slammed open in the middle of the night and the old man excitedly rushed in, yanking the blankets off Morty's bed, and Morty along with them, so the boy landed painfully against the floor.

"We gotta go, Morty!" Rick's voice sounded urgent. If not for the man always acting like everything was a dire emergency, Morty would have been concerned. "Get up, Morty. Let's go."

With a groan, Morty pulled himself halfway up. "Geeze, Rick..." He frowned, rubbing the back of his head where it had knocked slightly against his bedroom's floor. "You know you can just, you know, wake me up like a normal person..." He grumbled. Rick knew Morty never told him no when he demanded that the boy accompany him on one of his insane missions. There was no reason to be so forceful about it.

"Come on, Morty." Rick grabbed him by the arm and tugged him rather roughly up off the floor.

"Ow!" Morty frowned, but didn't try to shrug out of his grandfather's grip as he attempted to balance himself on his own feet. "Where are we going? Can't I get dressed first? Y-you keep waking me up in the middle of the night-"

"Come on." Rick interrupted, ignoring his grandson's questions as he pulled a portal gun out of his coat and shot it straight ahead, revealing a sight quite common to Morty by now - a glowing, green portal.

Morty yawned and looked back toward his bed with a frown as Rick dragged him through the portal. As soon as they were on their feet in whatever new place Rick had decided he urgently needed to visit, Morty looked around.

The sky here looked purple, with an occasional flash of orangeish lightning. Dark, winged creatures flew quickly through and in front of heavy, grey clouds. On the ground, everything looked very flat, with little vegetation. What plant-life did exist looked withered up and mostly dead. The dry, cracked ground appeared to be full of large holes, which could either be a good way to fall to one's death or a good place for some horrific creature to live. Morty didn't know which, and wasn't sure he wanted to find out.

With a nervous gulp, Morty shrunk down slightly behind his grandfather as he continued staring with wide eyes at the landscape around them. Usually even the most dangerous of their adventures took place in worlds or dimensions that were at least not so terrifying to look at.

Without a word, Rick grabbed Morty's arm again and started dragging him across the dark, eerie plains.

"What is this place?" Morty wondered as he allowed Rick to pull him along. "W-what are we looking for?" He wanted to help, both because he enjoyed being useful and feeling like he was brought along as more than a shield, and because he kind of wanted to get the hell out of here sooner rather than later. The quicker they found whatever they'd come for, the sooner they could go home.

"Don't worry about it." Rick answered as he continued walking briskly forward, still gripping Morty's arm in a tight fist.

"Rick..." Morty frowned as he finally tried to pull his arm away. His grandfather didn't usually ignore his questions to this extent. "What's going on?" He was starting to get worried.

Rick tightened his grip and yanked Morty's arm forward quite harshly as he continued his quick pace.

"Ow!" Morty complained as he stumbled forward and pulled at his arm again. If Rick had pulled much harder he could have easily dislocated Morty's shoulder. "You're being a little rough, Rick." Morty frowned as he practically jogged to keep up with his grandfather. "You know, you don't have to keep secrets... I always have to help you anyway." Morty scowled up at him. "It-it's not like I have a choice. You don't need to, you know, grab me so- so hard, Rick..."

His grandfather continued to ignore Morty's words as he dragged the boy along. His grip was so tight Morty could feel a bruise forming beneath his fingers, but Rick still refused to let go.

"If you just tell me wh-what we're looking for," Morty began, "I could help look. I mean, you know, you're probably gonna make me go get it when we find it anyway, right? There's a reason I'm here, so l-you know... let me help..."

Finally, Rick stopped abruptly, yanking Morty's arm hard so that the boy stumbled ahead a step and stood facing him. He put his other hand on Morty's shoulder and scowled down at him. Both of his hands were so much rougher than usual as he squeezed Morty's arms tightly, almost threateningly. "Will you stop fucking whining for a god damn second?" The old man growled.

Morty frowned and shrunk down. "I just-" He hesitated. Rick seemed a lot more angry than Morty was used to. Ordinarily, the man seemed more annoyed or frustrated than actually pissed off.

"You just what?" Rick yelled, tightening his grip around Morty's arms and shaking him slightly.

Swallowing a lump his his throat, Morty shrunk down. "Nothing..." He winced.

With an eye roll and a scoff, Rick turned back to walking, but kept one hand tightly wrapped around Morty's wrist.

Morty pouted and looked down at his feet, ignoring the pain in his arm as Rick dragged him along. All he'd done was try to sleep through a whole night. He'd never asked to come along on this quest, and now he was being treated like more of a nuisance than an asset. He hoped whatever his grandfather was upset over would be forgotten soon, because right now he felt like the victim of misplaced anger.

They walked and walked and walked and walked. Occasionally, a shriek, growl, or grumbling noise echoed in the distance, causing Morty to shrink closer toward his grandfather. Even if Rick was being a little mean right now, he was still the only source of safety around.

It felt like they'd been walking forever and Rick's grip hadn't loosened one bit. Morty's feet and legs ached from walking and his wrist hurt where Rick's hand squeezed too tight. Even as he stumbled after Rick, Morty felt his eyelids drooping as he struggled to stay awake.

"Are we-" Morty hesitated, unsure if he should really be asking questions after Rick's previous outburst. He wasn't sure what else to do, however. At this point, he wouldn't be surprised if he passed out from exhaustion. "Are we almost there?" He completed his question with a tired exhale.

"Almost." Rick answered, finally acknowledging Morty as though the boy were an actual person, but quickly offending him all over again with an added, "You're gonna need to stay down and out of the way."

Morty frowned. "What are-"

"Shhh!" Rick slapped his free hand over Morty's mouth for a second to silence him. "All you need to know is this: Stay down and out of the way. You know what that means? Out of the fucking way? Is that something your little mind can wrap itself around?"

With a pout, Morty yanked his arm out of Rick's grip and stopped in his tracks, crossing his arms over his chest and scowling up at his grandfather. "Why did you even bring me here, Rick?"

Rick turned toward him and his expression appeared to soften. Morty could see annoyance and frustration behind the man's forced smile, however. "I need your help, little pal." He said in a too-sweet-to-be-genuine voice as he knelt down patted Morty's head.

"Just what exactly do you need my help for, Rick?" Morty wondered as he swatted his grandfather's hand away. "Other than me being a human shield f-for you?"

Rick stood back up and stared down at him with an annoyed frown. "God damn it, Morty." Rick shook his head.

"I'm only here to function as a cloaking device. You don't even want my help!" Morty accused. "I-I have feelings too, Rick, you know? I'm not just a tool you can use whenever you want... I'm... I'm a person, Rick. I don't need this!" He started to turn around to head back the way they'd come, but then realized he had nowhere to go. His only way home was the portal gun Rick was in possession of.

"You need me, kid." Rick spoke in an even, emotionless voice.

"No, you need me, Rick." Morty countered as he turned back toward his grandpa. "I could live my whole life without you. I've got plenty of practice. I was doing fine before you came back. You've gotten a whole lot more out of this relationship than I have. I keep you hidden from... you know... whoever..." He kind of forgot what the whole human cloaking device was really for... Who was Rick even hiding from? "But what do I get out of it? Nothing. Just failing grades at school - nearly getting killed all the time. You need me more than I need you!"

"You're right and wrong, Morty." Rick stared down at him. "You don't need me on a normal day. I don't need you either - in particular... I just need a Morty. I don't care which one. Maybe I need to trade you in for a Morty who doesn't ask so many damn questions... Here I thought Mortys were as dumb as rocks... Considering you're supposed to be stupid, you're a little too smart for your own good. Never thought I'd be wishing for an even dumber Morty." He added with a shrug.

Morty frowned, unsure how to take that half-insult half-compliment. "Well... Well, for someone who's supposed to be smart, Rick... You-your a little too stupid for your own good." He replied. "You can't expect people to go along with your- with all your crazy ideas when there's nothing in it for them. You know... You know, Rick... Wh-why should I even-"

With an exasperated sigh, Rick rolled his eyes and snatched at Morty's wrist again as he interrupted the boy. "Could you stop being a whiny little prick? Your job is to do what I say. You come with me; I do whatever shit I need to do; I take you home. The end. That's how it works. You don't have to like it. You just do it."

Tugging at his wrist, as Rick walked along and dragged him after, Morty shook his head. "You're grabbing me too hard." He spoke in a small, defeated voice. Rick was kinda right. Morty didn't have a choice. Rick was his only way home. That didn't mean the man had to be so rough and forceful. "Rick, let go! Y-your hurting my arm..."

"Stop being a little bitch, and I won't have to." Rick told him.

Morty frowned and stopped even trying to shrug out of his grandfather's grip. The man was too strong and only squeezed his fist tighter when Morty fought back.

"And you do need me, Morty." Rick scowled down at him, but didn't lessen his harsh grip. "Unless you want to live the rest of your short life here. I doubt you'd last long."

Morty swallowed and looked around as Rick finally stopped walking, and thus stopped roughly dragging him along. He definitely didn't want to get stuck here.

"So," Rick exhaled, "As I said... Stay down, and out of the way." Rick shoved Morty rather harshly so that he fell forward, catching himself somewhat painfully with his arms and knees. Rick walked a few steps away toward one of the many large holes in the ground. This one almost seemed to glow. "You better still be there when I get back." He called as he hopped down and disappeared into the hole.

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	2. Chapter 2

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Chapter 2

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With a pout, Morty sat up from where Rick had shoved him. He brushed some dust from the ground off his forearms and peered with curiosity toward the gaping, glowing hole in the ground that Rick had just jumped into.

It was really nothing new for Rick to treat Morty like a possession more than like a person, but he seemed to be in an especially foul mood today, and was being particularly harsh. Hurt feelings were something Morty was unfortunately used to, but that didn't mean he liked it. Rick wasn't usually so physically violent either. He usually just stuck to hurting feelings.

While it was true that Rick wasn't the most gentle person, and had grabbed or shoved Morty a little too hard on occasion, usually if Morty told him his grip was painful, or if Morty made it clear he didn't want to be grabbed Rick would stop. Usually Rick was only rough when he felt he had to be - like if he was shoving Morty out of harm's way or dragging him along as they ran from some danger or another. Tonight, he seemed to just be frustrated and in a bad mood and was taking it out on Morty for some reason.

Morty shivered as he pulled his knees up toward his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. It was kinda cold here, and the fact that he'd been sleeping in a t-shirt and boxers and hadn't been given time to change into real clothes wasn't helping. He wasn't even wearing socks...

Laying his head down on his knees, Morty closed his eyes and waited. He almost felt like he could fall asleep right here... That is, until he heard what sounded like something big sliding quickly across the ground nearby.

Morty gasped softly as he scrambled to his feet and turned sharply around. "I-is someone there?" He stuttered. Suddenly everything seemed darker than it had before. Maybe it was because he'd stared at the glowing light coming from the hole and his eyes hadn't readjusted yet. "H-hello?" He called when no answer came in response to his first question.

As he blinked into the darkness, Morty strained to see into the distance. It wasn't until whatever had been stalking around was within feet of him that Morty finally could see it. It looked like a strange, giant, horrifying mixture of a spider and a snake. A horrid, slithering creature the size of a large crocodile, with huge, jagged scales, multiple eyes, giant claws, and a sharp, piercing mandible lunged toward him, reaching out a giant, clawed hand. Morty felt several sharp claws slash through his shirt and graze his skin underneath, causing him to stumble backward with a terrified scream.

Before he knew it, he was tumbling back into the hole Rick had gone down. Morty was falling through it backward, whereas his grandfather had seemed to go down so much more gracefully.

With a thud and a soft, pained choking sound, Morty hit something solid, but continued to tumble even further down as he gripped desperately at both the air around him as well as the crumbling dirt wall. There was nothing to grab. He kept falling. He felt harsh stones and clumps of dirt scratching and bruising his skin as he grasped desperately for something to hold onto to keep himself from falling any further. The hole was deep, but at least it wasn't entirely straight down - various slanted spots broke his fall... over and over again, stopping him just long enough to slow his momentum, until he finally rolled to a stop at a flat, even spot at the very bottom of the hole.

Morty closed his eyes and whimpered before opening them again and staring up. Loose pebbles and dust continued falling onto him from where his rough fall had broken it loose from the dirt walls of the hole. He coughed a pained gasp and squeezed his eyes shut again as he tried to force his shaking, ragged breaths to even out.

Once he'd managed to intake a few pained breaths, coughing as both oxygen and dust filled his lungs, Morty opened his eyes again. The sky above looked much further away now as he looked at it through the long, dusty tunnel of the hole he'd just fallen through. It didn't seem like the spider-snake creature had followed him down at least. Everything was eerily still as the dust settled around him.

Groaning, Morty forced himself to sit up and brushed some dirt off his shoulders. Lots of spots within the tunnel of the hole as well as the tunnels branching off from the spot where he'd landed were glowing, which allowed Morty to see a lot better than he'd been able to up above.

A soft gasp escaped his lips and tears filled his eyes when he looked down and saw a rather rough-looking scrape on his arm. With a trembling lower lip, Morty stared as blood dripped lazily from the wound. Is wasn't gushing blood at least, but it still bled a lot more than he would have preferred, which of course would be not at all.

Ignoring the wound on his arm for the moment, Morty looked down at his stomach, where the creature had clawed him. His shirt was shredded by three long slashes across the fabric and his skin had three shallow cuts to match. They were barely bleeding.

Still sitting, Morty stretched his legs out in front of him, looking himself over for any more injuries. Each of his legs was quite covered in scrapes and bruises as well, but not as large as the one on his arm. His other arm seemed relatively unharmed, but his palm was scraped up where he had tried to catch himself on the way down.

With aching limbs, Morty crawled backwards so that his back was against the dirt-wall of the tunnel. Each small movement hurt him. He wished his grandfather had never woken him up tonight. Unable to hold back his tears, Morty brought his hands up over his eyes and began to sob.

"Morty!" An angry, frustrated voice called from nearby.

Sniffing back tears, Morty looked up from behind his hands in time to see his grandpa walking rather calmly toward him. Morty shrunk down slightly, certain that Rick was going to be angry with him.

"God damn it, Morty." Rick grumbled. "I clearly asked you to stay put... This was supposed to take five fucking minutes. I'm starting to wonder if Mortys are always more trouble than they're worth or if I just so happen to be with the biggest clusterfuck of a Morty there is."

Morty gulped and looked up at Rick, through a blurry shield of tears. "S-something attacked me... W-well, it tried to... I f-fell..." He tried to keep his voice strong as he explained and ignored his grandpa's insults. "I don't know w-what it was. It was huge, Rick... I-it came at me out- outta nowhere."

Rick breathed a loud, exaggerated sigh. "I need a fucking leash for you."

Morty frowned up at his grandfather. The last thing he needed right now was Rick's stupid jokes. He needed the man to be a responsible adult for once and take him home.

"You think I'm just fucking with you, but I'm serious." Rick continued. "I think I'll actually get a leash and drag you around like a fucking dog, because this clearly isn't working. I thought you were self-sufficient enough to be left alone for thirty seconds. I guess I was wrong. For once. I need something to actually tether you to me so you can't get yourself fucking killed." He grumbled as he reached toward Morty and grabbed his arm, yanking him painfully to his feet.

Morty winced as Rick's hand clamped down over scratches and bruises already forming on his arm from his rough tumble. "Ow!" He cried out, tugging his arm protectively away. "Stop it, Rick! That hurts! Can we go home now?" He wondered as he sniffed back tears. "Please?"

"No." Rick rolled his eyes as he grabbed Morty's arm again.

"Rick, stop!" Morty pleaded again. "You're hurting me..." He frowned. It didn't seem like Rick really cared that his grip was painful, or that his hand was pressing down on already existing injuries. He didn't care that Morty was hurt. He only wanted to use his grandson like always.

"Stop being a baby, Morty." Rick advised and began leading him through the tunnel back the way he had come. "Since you're down here anyway, you might as well help me collect some of these rocks."

Sniffing back tears, Morty followed Rick a few steps down the tunnel where two wooden buckets sat near the dirt wall of the cavernous place. A tin layer of glowing rocks covered the bottom of one of the buckets.

"I asked you to stay up there to prevent something stupid like this from happening." Rick explained as he dug another glowing rock out of the wall and tossed it into the bucket. "You're so fucking clumsy. But all Mortys are."

Morty frowned and stared down at the bucket. It was going to take a lot longer than five minutes to fill up both of them. Rick was exaggerating the extent of Morty's uselessness yet again, and wasn't doing a damn thing to make Morty feel like he was even an individual... Just another, replaceable Morty.

"R-Rick?" Morty frowned as he carefully dug at a glowing rock embedded in the wall at his own eye-level - one which Rick had missed.

"What?" Rick asked in an exasperated tone, not bothering to look down at him.

"Y-You're being extra mean tonight." Morty averted eye contact. "You know, I like coming with you on a lot of these adventures, a-and, I mean, even though sometimes you wake me up in the middle of the night, and, you know, I'm tired and would rather wait until morning, or you know, sometimes things get a li- a little too crazy, but I like helping you most of the time. I didn't think I was, you know, getting cocky or anything..."

He glanced up toward Rick who was staring down at him with a frown and a raised eyebrow.

"I-I'm just saying, Rick..." Morty hesitated. "You know, you... you don't have to be so mean... My arm's bleeding kinda a lot, you know... a-and I mean, I just fell down a really deep hole, and hit the ground like six or seven times on the way down..."

"Morty..." Rick raised his hand to indicate that Morty needed to stop talking and let him speak. "You're fine. If nothing's broken, you're fine. I don't bring you along with me just so you can fall down, get hurt, and make me go back home before I get what I came for, alright? You're a teenager, not a five year old. Man up."

Morty pouted and continued digging somewhat angrily at the glowing rock, which was about the size of small marble. He finally managed to wiggle it free from the dirt wall and tossed it rather roughly into the second bucket, which had been empty up until that point.

"Geeze, Morty." Rick spoke with a sarcastic tone as he glanced down at Morty's bucket. "Way to do your part, kid. I got like sixty already. You've only managed to get one."

Morty glared at him for a moment before kicking his foot out toward the bucket, knocking it over and allowing the tiny glowing pebble he'd collected to bounce across the dirt floor of the tunnel. "If you're so good at it, maybe you can just do it without me." He grumbled as he turned to walk away.

"You got an awful lot of faith in me, Morty." Rick spoke in an even tone as he pretty much ignored Morty's outburst and continued digging rocks out of the wall and tossing them into his bucket. "You gotta a lotta faith that I'm gonna put up with your bullshit. You don't even know how close I am to smacking you."

Without turning back around, Morty paused. He honestly had nowhere to go and didn't really care to find out what all lived in these tunnels. Like Rick had noted before, Morty needed him to get back home. Storming off wasn't going to solve his problems. It would just put him in more danger. Morty was just frustrated, and knew that Rick would never leave him behind in the end.

"When I get these buckets filled, I'm outta here. If you're still here, you'll come with. If you're not..." He shrugged. "There's more Mortys out there... It'll be a minor inconvenience for me to get a new one. I absolutely am not wasting my time chasing after you through these tunnels because you decided to have a little fit. I'm not a babysitter. You should make things easier for me, not harder. You need me a hell of a lot more than I need you... Clearly."

"Y-you're a jerk, Rick." Morty stammered, clenching his hands into fists, but wincing when his scratched up palm stung at the gesture. He stepped toward Rick and shoved him, even when it hurt his hand and arm to do so.

Morty didn't shove Rick very hard, but one would have thought he did judging by Rick's reaction, a rather harsh slap across the boy's face.

Stumbling backward, Morty fell against the ground. He brought a hand up to his stinging cheek and stared up at his grandfather through tears that were welling up in his eyes.

"Don't ever shove me, Morty." Rick warned as he glared down at his grandson. He took a threatening step forward and looked like he was fully ready to hit him again if Morty argued about this.

Morty shrunk down as he stared up at his grandfather. He didn't know what to do or say. He wanted so badly to get upset and leave, but he was no longer confident his grandpa would come after him. Maybe Rick really would leave him behind if he ran off. On a normal day, Rick did put up with a lot more from Morty. He hurt Morty's feelings constantly, always acted like he didn't care, but would always do whatever he needed to keep Morty safe anyway. He'd threaten to leave Morty on his own, but never actually did so... Rick had never hit him before either though...

Was this the new normal? It wasn't too far-fetched that an already emotionally abusive person could become physically abusive as well. Morty just never thought it would happen. He trusted Rick with his life and well-being all the time. He trusted that no matter how angry Rick was with him, that the man would never hurt him on purpose in any way that wasn't solely emotional.

"Y-you hit me." Morty finally stammered.

"You shoved me first, Morty." Rick defended as he turned back toward his work. "Don't fuck with people if you don't want them fucking with you right back."

Morty frowned. He'd only shoved Rick because Rick was being really mean. It seemed fighting back was not an option. It didn't even things out as much as it escalated them.

Rick shook his head and continued digging stones out of the wall. "Hop to it, Morty. Get to work, or go wander through the tunnel and see how long you last. I don't care. I'd rather get a new Morty anyway if you're not going to cooperate."

Sticking his lower lip out into a pout, Morty stared toward his grandpa. Surely the man didn't really mean all this. Maybe he was just extra grumpy because he hadn't been drinking. He did seem unusually sober. Lack of alcohol was probably making him cranky. Morty tried to not take it personally, but that was much easier said than done. He dragged himself up off the ground, walked back over toward Rick, and picked up the bucket he'd kicked over, tossing the discarded stone back into it and standing back up straight.

Sighing, he begrudgingly went back to work digging the stones out of the wall. It made his already aching fingers hurt, but he needed to help so they could get this done and go home.

"What are these for, Rick?" Morty wondered as he tossed another into his bucket. He tried to forget that Rick had just backhanded him. He didn't want to feel the way he did right now. Even though it seemed like emotional and physical pain were separate entities, that hard, unforgiving slap had hurt in both ways, much more than any words from Rick ever had. When the stinging feeling on his cheek started to disappear, Morty's emotions still hurt.

Rick ignored him as he pulled out a particularly large stone. "Just hurry it up, Morty. We aren't supposed to be taking these."

Morty winced. "W-why not?" He wondered.

"Uh, because we didn't dig these mines? Maybe because someone else did all the work here and we're just taking all the shit they unearthed?" Rick scoffed. "On what planet do you think people are okay with other people just opening up a portal and stealing a bunch of their shit?"

Morty frowned. "You do it all the time."

Rick laughed and yanked another stone out of the wall. "Aw, nice! I'm gettin' to the big ones now."

Morty looked back toward the wall and continued digging out tiny stones while Rick was finding ones the side of baseballs deeper inside the wall. He hoped after Rick filled the first bucket that he'd help Morty fill the second. At this rate, Morty's bucket would never be full if he had to do it himself.

The stone Morty had been digging for became dislodged and tumbled to the ground. With a sigh, he squatted down and picked it up, but was distracted when Rick made a startled gasping sound.

"Shit!" The old man yelled as he pulled a huge stone out of the wall, but noticed a lot more than just the stone coming lose. The entire wall started to crumble and cave in on itself, filling the tunnel with rumbling sounds and clouds of dust.

With a scared whimper, Morty shrunk down, covering his face with his arms and curling himself into a small ball.

"Time to go, Morty!" Rick called. "Morty?"

Morty moved his arms slightly so he could try to find Rick, but couldn't see the man anywhere. "I'm here, Rick!" He called out desperately, hoping his grandpa could find him quickly and get him out of here.

"I can't find you, Morty!" Rick called from a few feet away. Morty still couldn't see him. There was too much falling dirt, stones, and dust. "Fuck... Morty, I gotta go..."

"No!" Morty felt panic rising in his chest. His grandpa wouldn't really leave him here... Would he? "Rick, please! Wait!" He struggled to stand on shaking legs as dirt and rocks fell all around and on top of him. "Don't leave me!"

"Sorry, kid." Rick called from somewhere to his right. "I'll come back when the dust settles and see what's left of you. Stay put."

A panicked whimper shuddered through him as Morty stumbled toward his grandfather's voice. He saw a faint green flash of light, likely Rick opening a portal. The light disappeared, and Morty felt very, very alone.

Before he could get too much more scared, something fell against his temple, knocking him hard enough that his vision went black as he collapsed onto the ground.

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	3. Chapter 3

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Chapter 3

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Groaning and coughing, Morty blinked open his heavy eyelids. Everything around him was dark. A cloud of unsettled dust drowned out whatever glowing rocks were still embedded in the walls so that he could barely see a thing. He could certainly feel a lot though. He felt that a sticky, half-dried stream of blood was running down the side of his face. He felt that most of the right side of his body was buried in dirt and rocks. His lungs burned when he breathed in air too full of dust.

With a soft whimper, Morty attempted to dislodge his right arm and leg from under the rubble. Fortunately, it seemed like most of the crumbled earth that weighed him down was comprised of dirt and smaller pebbles. It wasn't like he was trapped under a boulder.

He was still digging himself out when he started to hear very unsettling sounds - a mixture of clicking noises, pitter-pattering feat, and a sound he could only describe as squishy.

Shrinking down, Morty tried to see around himself. Everything was so clouded and dark.

Ignoring the sounds as best as he could, Morty continued making quick work unburying himself. He had to get out of here... Of course, he didn't know where he'd go. He pulled his right arm free and could now use both hands to free his leg.

As Morty frantically shoved rocks and dirt to the side and pulled uselessly at his trapped leg, he didn't even notice the large creature sneaking up behind him until it was too late. With a startled scream, Morty felt what was either a worm-like creature's body or a larger creature's slimy arm wrap around his forearm, over the large scratch he'd suffered earlier.

"No!" Morty screamed desperately as he clawed at the dirt wall of the tunnel and as the creature yanked him harshly back, pulling his leg free in the process. Morty squeezed his eyes shut and winced as a sharp pain radiated up from his ankle. There was a reason he hadn't been able to pull his foot out from under the rubble. It had been trapped. Pulling it free before the debris were cleared may have just sprained or broken it.

Whatever held onto him dragged him roughly back through the tunnel. Some slimy substance oozed from its pores, onto Morty's skin, right over the giant scrape covering most of the top of his forearm. Morty wasn't sure if it was all in his head, but he could swear whatever this gooey stuff was was seeping into his skin and making him dizzy.

"Let me go!" Morty called out feebly as he tried to squirm out of this creature's grip. He was feeling weaker and weaker... What if the slime from the worm-like appendage was poisoning him? What if it was killing him? Morty let out a frightened sob as he pulled uselessly at the thick limb that dragged him along.

Morty squeezed his eyes shut until he could swear he saw a familiar, faint green glow through his eyelids. His eyes shot open in time to see a green portal opening and Rick stepping through.

"Hey! That's mine." Rick spoke with a frown as he shot a laser toward the creature, killing it instantly and reducing it to a mess of ashes.

Morty landed against the ground with a pained groan, shrinking back against the wall as Rick closed in on him. The man didn't look relieved that he'd gotten back here in time to save Morty. He didn't look happy that Morty happened to still be alive. He still looked pissed off.

"What the hell, Morty?" Rick growled as he raised his hand up.

Morty flinched back, sure that Rick was going to hit him again. He frowned and crawled backward away from the man until his back hit the wall.

"What are you doing here?" Rick wondered. He still looked really mad.

"I-" Morty stuttered. Sure, Rick had told him to stay put while the cave was collapsing around him... Morty even had... He didn't have a choice after being buried beneath the collapsed tunnel... He also didn't have a choice when the strange creature grabbed him and dragged him off.

"What the hell happened to you?" Rick frowned as he made his way toward Morty and reached his hand toward his grandson's face.

Morty shrunk back as much as the earth would allow as Rick turned his face carefully to the side to examine the bleeding gash on his forehead, near his hair. "The tunnel collapsed, Rick." Morty scowled up at him. "Something must have fallen on me."

Rick pouted as he looked at the injury. "Doesn't look like it's bleeding anymore. Eh... It looks worse than it probably is. You know how head wounds are..."

Morty didn't really know how head wounds were...

"Shit! Are these plebnarstones?" Rick immediately forgot Morty as he looked around the cavernous tunnels. "Do you know how valuable these are to my work? We gotta get some of these, Morty!"

"You already did." Morty frowned. "Please take me home. I think my ankle's broken and that monster may have poisoned me..."

"Poisoned you?" Rick frowned down at him.

"Yeah." Morty frowned. "Some gooey stuff coming off it... It-it got on me, and in the giant scratch on my arm. I feel dizzy..."

"Plebworms are harmless if they aren't actively eating you." Rick assured him. "That slime they leak is just to keep their prey still so they can eat it alive. It'll wear off."

"It was gonna eat me alive?" Morty gasped. What if Rick hadn't returned right when he did. Morty would have died!

"Yeah, probably. That's what plebworms do. That scratch is pretty big though..." Rick noted as he carefully gripped Morty's arm and stared at the giant scratch, which was mostly covered in dry, crusted blood by now. "Jesus Christ, Morty. Did you fall down here?" He looked up through one of the many holes leading up to the surface.

"Yeah!" Morty was starting to feel angry. "B-because you left me up there! A giant spider-looking snake thing attacked me and knocked me down here. I-I told you already, Rick!"

"Shiiiit..." Rick stared up to the surface and took a long drink from his flask before tucking it back into his coat and looking down toward his grandson. "That's a long fall, buddy. You gotta be more careful."

Morty sniffed back tears as he leaned tiredly back against the wall of the tunnel. "Can we go home now?" He asked again.

"Can, uh-" Rick hesitated as he frowned down at Morty. "Can you hang tight for three or four minutes? I gotta get some of these plebnarstones while we're here... It'd be id-" He burped in mid-sentence before continuing, "-iotic to leave now."

Morty wrapped his arms around himself, shivered, and whimpered as he held back tears. He felt cold and sick and had a feeling any indication Rick had ever given that he cared about Morty at all had been a lie. Whatever slime had gotten onto him from that monster made him feel dizzy and disoriented, but didn't take away any of the pain radiating through his limbs. He just wanted to go home, to get his injuries taken care of and to feel safe again.

"Aww-" Rick frowned down at him and took a step forward, kneeling down so he was closer to eye-level with the boy. Morty flinched back slightly as Rick reached toward his arms, gripping them more gently this time. "Come on, Morty. I just need a couple minutes. We'll get your ankle taken care of... Just... These stones are really rare... I didn't even know there were still mines full of 'em. I'm not gonna let you lay here an' die or anything."

"F-fine, Rick." Morty sniffled, hugging himself closer. "I-it's not like you care what I think anyway. It's not like you've ever cared if I'm in pain, waiting on you to do something more important before caring to make sure I'm okay. Just get more of your stupid rocks. Who c-cares if my, you know, if my ankle is broken and I-I'm all scratched up? Who cares about a stupid Morty they can just t-trade in for a new one whenever they want. I should be glad you even came back, right? Just, you know... h-hurry up. I'm cold. You didn't even let me put on socks..." He grumbled.

Rick shrugged out of his lab coat and draped it over Morty's shoulders. "I don't know what you're whining about." He started, helping Morty push his arms through the coat's too-long sleeves, putting his hands lightly on the boy's shoulders and pulling the coat more snugly around him. "I'm not sure why you-" He paused and belched loudly before finishing his thought- "need so much constant reassurance, M-Morty... Why you always think I'm gonna trade you in, but as I said the last time you got all hung up on this... It goes without saying... Right? Remember? Mortiest Morty?"

Morty stared up at him and frowned. He recalled that Rick had tried to convince him that he wasn't just a throwaway, exchangeable piece of property in the eyes of the old man a while back by telling him that it 'went without saying,' that Morty was the Mortiest Morty and therefore paired with with the Rickest Rick. But Morty didn't really feel like his grandpa really felt that way after their earlier conversation. Rick had even specifically threatened to trade him in.

"Remember? Hm?" Rick's features softened slightly. "Goes without saying?" Rick offered a smile that looked a little too exaggerated.

Morty was just about to say something else when another green portal opened a few feet away and another Rick stepped through. He stared from the Rick kneeling in front of him to the Rick stepping out of the portal, immediately shrinking back from the one that was right in front of him when he realized either of the two could be a Rick other than his own.

"Hey!" The second Rick growled as he locked eyes with the first. "What are you doing with my Morty?" He raised a laser gun up and aimed it at the first Rick, who knelt in front of Morty as though shielding him from the other Rick.

"Your Morty?" The first Rick scowled and pointed his laser gun back as he stood from where he'd been kneeling. "Is that why he's acting all weird? Did you bring him here? This is my Morty, asshole."

The first Rick didn't wait to ask questions before firing his gun toward the second, who seemed to anticipate it, as he dodged out of the way and fired back. The first Rick dodged as well, quickly grabbing Morty's upper arm and dragging him up to his feet.

At first, Morty thought this Rick was going to use him as a literal human shield. He didn't know which Rick was his, or if even either of them were at this point. So he pulled his arm out of Rick's grasp, allowing himself to fall back against the ground with a pained wince.

"Damn it, Morty, come on!" Rick grabbed him up again, throwing the boy over his shoulder and running off down the tunnel.

They didn't make it far before the second Rick ran up behind them, wrapping his arms around the first Rick's torso and tackling him to the ground. Morty landed hard and rolled as his momentum failed to slow down after he'd hit the ground.

He rolled until he hit a dirt wall and lay where he had fallen as he looked over in time to see both of the Ricks fighting with each other.

"I don't want to kill you, Rick..." The second Rick growled as he grabbed at the other's arms. "I just wanna get my Morty and get going."

"I don't care if I kill you, Rick!" The other one disagreed as he dove for the gun he'd dropped when the second Rick had tackled him.

Morty watched as both of the Ricks struggled to maintain control over the one laser gun. He wondered where the second gun had gotten to... He couldn't let his grandfather get killed... but he didn't even know for sure which man was his grandfather... He also was pretty scared to get between the two.

Groaning in pain, Morty dragged himself up to his hands and knees. He still felt dizzy from whatever that worm-creature had leaked onto him, but he was coherent enough to feel around in the coat the first Rick had put on him to see if he could find anything useful. All he found was a screwdriver, a flask, and a portal gun. None of it seemed like it could help him stop the two Ricks from killing each other, but it did help him piece a few things together in his mind.

He wasn't absolutely sure which Rick was his own, but did have a pretty good guess, based on the fact that the first Rick, the one he'd most recently talked to, had a flask in his coat. Morty wasn't sure if other Ricks had flasks, but he knew his did... This same Rick also referenced a past conversation they'd had and had offered him his coat when Morty said he was cold. That was a lot nicer than the other Rick, who Morty now assumed had been the one who originally brought him here.

Shaking his head, Morty tried to make sense of all this. The Rick he thought was his Rick was the one without his coat. The other Rick was the one who brought him here. That's why his Rick seemed so confused when he'd returned - because he wasn't returning at all. He had come to find Morty - who he had probably assumed ran off on his own. Morty's Rick didn't know a second Rick had taken him.

Morty shrunk down as he thought about this. Another Rick - a person he didn't even know - had ran up into his room, grabbed him, and took him away and Morty didn't even think anything of it. This other Rick had been rough and even somewhat violent, and Morty didn't even think twice that it wasn't the grandpa he knew and loved. Morty could have been taken to an alternate version of his own universe and would have never even noticed. He'd have just thought Rick was turning a little meaner.

With a shaking hand, Morty pulled out the portal gun. "Rick!" He screamed. Both Ricks looked at him and Morty gulped. He wasn't as certain as he would have liked to be. It was hard to be sure someone was the person you thought they were when a second, 100% identical version of them was right there in front of you... "My Rick..." He specified. Both Ricks continued to stare.

"L-let's just go home, Rick." Morty spoke in a shaking voice as he held the portal gun in his hand. "If you won't come with me, I-I'll go by myself." He threatened, aiming the portal gun ahead. He wasn't really sure how to use it. How did he tell the gun where he wanted to go? The last time he'd tried to do something like this, he'd nearly gotten himself killed.

Morty yelped as the second Rick - the one still wearing his coat, punched out at the first Rick, knocking him harshly back for a moment. Second Rick then shot a low-powered laser carefully at the portal gun, knocking it from Morty's hand and breaking it.

"Come on, Morty." The second Rick ordered, gesturing for Morty to join him as he took a few large steps forward and grabbed at Morty's arm. "I'll take you home."

Morty gasped and yanked his arm back so Rick couldn't grab him. He didn't think that Rick was his Rick. That was the one who'd been extra mean to him - the sober one - the one who told him he was easily replaceable - the one who'd hit him across the face. "No." Morty shook his head and took a shaking step back, wincing as he put weight on his hurt ankle and tripping over the coat Rick had given him. Morty fell back against the ground and stared up at the second Rick who was closing in on him.

"Come on, Morty." The second Rick said in a more stern voice as he pointed his laser gun directly at his grandson - or, more likely, the alternate version of his grandson. "We're going home."

Morty felt his chest grow cold. He wasn't certain this Rick wouldn't actually shoot him. Morty looked with wide, panicked eyes past the Rick who was reaching for him and toward the man he thought and hoped was his real Rick. He didn't know what to do. Going with this Rick felt like a mistake, but not going with him might not be an option judging by the fact that the old man was pointing a gun right at him and looked and sounded very serious.

"You son of a bitch!" Morty's Rick growled as he turned the dial on his laser gun all the way up and shot the other man without a second thought.

Morty stared in shock as the second Rick disappeared into a pile of ash just a few feet away from him. What if he'd been wrong? What if that man had been his Rick?

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	4. Chapter 4

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Chapter 4

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Rick stared at the pile of ashes that had seconds ago been a mirror image of himself. He didn't like killing Ricks if he didn't have to, but this one had threatened Morty. He hadn't had a choice. Sure, it was very possible he could have talked the other Rick down, but it was also possible that trying that may have resulted in Morty being hurt or killed. Rick wasn't willing to risk that, so he'd shot him, with the highest powered laser he could.

He turned toward Morty, who was scrambling backward and staring up at him with huge, wide, fearful eyes.

Rick grimaced. He could guess that Morty was feeling a little unsure of which Rick had just been turned to ash and which one was closing in on him. "It's alright, Morty... It's me..." Rick promised as he raised his hands in defense to show Morty he meant no harm.

Morty still looked unsure as he shook his head. "How do I know it's really you?" He wondered as he pressed himself back against the dirt wall of the tunnel.

Frowning, Rick stared down at him. He wasn't sure how to answer that. Lots of alternate universes were almost identical. That's why Rick and Morty had been able to step into their current universe and leave their original behind without anyone noticing. Certain Ricks and Mortys in alternate universes lived nearly the exact same lives as he and his Morty did, which meant they'd have identical memories. He couldn't really prove he was this Morty's Rick... but he might be able to convince Morty that he was... Even if it wasn't undeniable proof, Morty would probably take it as such.

"I can only assure you I am, Morty." Rick sighed. "I can tell you all about all the adventures we've been on... Remember Anatomy Park? The microverse in my car battery?" He paused to think of more adventures they'd shared... He didn't really want to talk about Unity or the time Morty had been attacked in a bathroom stall by King Jellybean. The time they'd jumped universes and took over the lives of a Rick and Morty who had died had been pretty traumatizing to the kid too... It occurred to Rick that a lot of their adventures had been pretty mentally scaring... "How about that time we went to Blips and Chitz? Or that time you and Summer fucked up the timeline and almost got us all fucking killed?" He added, feeling annoyance at the memory of his grandkids' mistakes nearly costing them their lives.

"R-Rick?" Morty smiled with a trembling lip as tears filled his eyes. He immediately appeared less tense. "I-is it really you?" Even though what Rick had just told him A. was probably true for at least fifty other Morties and Ricks out there, and B. could have easily been discovered with a simple mind-reading device, Morty seemed to accept it as evidence that the man who stood before him was truly his own Rick... Which he was... With or without proof.

"Yeah, Morty... It's me," Rick knelt down and wrapped his arms around his grandson, who hugged him tightly back. "I didn't know what the hell you were talking about earlier, acting like I should know what the hell was going on here when you were clearly down here all by yourself... Guess it makes sense now... I went to your room and you weren't there. I tracked you here. I never knew another Rick brought you here. I didn't know what you'd done. Just figured you'd fucked around with something in the garage and had somehow transported yourself here on accident."

Morty clung to Rick even when Rick was ready to end the embrace. "You - I mean... He... He woke me up in the middle of the night and brought me here, but he was being really mean. I thought you were just in a bad mood." Morty frowned and hugged his grandfather close.

"Well," Rick pulled gently away, but Morty only hugged him tighter. Rick didn't have the heart to break the embrace so forcefully, so he let his grandson's hug last a few moments more. "I- uh... I am in a pretty bad mood... My portal gun's broken."

Morty pulled back and frowned, looking at the ground where the broken gun lay. "I'm sorry, Rick..." He said with a nervous edge to his voice. He looked like he expected Rick to freak out and hit him.

Rick shrugged and exhaled loudly. "I'm sure I can fix it. He shot it with a low-level laser. I think he didn't want to risk killing you."

"Well, I'm surprised he even would have cared about that." Morty frowned. "He kept saying he didn't. He was being really rough and mean, and when I told him - you know, when I called him out on it, h-he said some pretty hurtful things, Rick."

Forcing a sympathetic smile, Rick patted Morty on the shoulder. He wasn't one to comfort people with words, so he settled on a small shoulder squeeze instead, frowning when he noticed a bruise on his grandson's cheek. It looked like someone had punched him. He wondered if the other Rick had done that. Rick would have been pissed if he hadn't already gotten even with the guy. Maybe the other Rick had been rough with his Morty, but the other Rick had also been reduced to a pile of quivering ashes.

Rick crawled over to his broken portal gun, snatched it up, and then backed up so that he was sitting against the wall next to Morty as he looked the gun over. Fortunately, the glowing plebnarstones illuminated the area a fair bit so he could see.

"You got my screwdriver in my coat still, Morty?" Rick wondered as he turned the broken gun over in his hands.

Morty handed him the screwdriver and Rick began to take the gun apart so he could see exactly which aspect needed fixing in order for it to function again.

As Rick worked on the gun, he noticed Morty scoot closer to him. With a bit of annoyance, Rick glanced down toward his grandson, ready to tell him to back off. When he saw the kid looking down the tunnel nervously, as if he feared for his life, however, Rick decided against that. Morty had been through quite a bit tonight. Rick would let him stay close... He just wouldn't make it obvious that he even noticed Morty was being so clingy.

"What do the plebstones do, Rick?" Morty wondered after a few moments of silence.

Rick exhaled as he glanced down at Morty, who was still leaning against his arm, but looking more calm now as he looked at a wall with many small glowing pebbles protruding from its surface.

"Plebnarstones, Morty." Rick corrected. "They can be a substitute for lots of forms of fuel." He explained. "And of course the fact that they give off eternal light is pretty useful. Gimme my flask." He ordered.

Morty smiled and felt around in Rick's coat, which he was still wearing, and which Rick noticed he'd stained with blood. "Here you go." Morty offered his grandfather his flask. He was still smiling.

Rick frowned. Ordinarily Morty seemed less enthused when his grandfather drank. "What are you so happy about?" He wondered as he took a drink from his flask and tucked it back into his coat.

"I'm just glad you're back." Morty answered, leaning even closer than he already had been, laying his cheek against Rick's shoulder, and wrapping his arm around Rick's forearm. "The other Rick was so mean. Y-you don't even know, Rick..."

"Meaner than me?" Rick wondered as he looked down at Morty with a raised eyebrow. If there was one thing Rick was good at (besides everything - he was good at everything,) it was being mean. He took great pride in making sure Morty knew his place. He loved the kid, but Morty didn't ever need to really be so sure of that.

"Yeah." Morty nodded. "Not as drunk, but m-meaner anyway... I kept asking him where we were going or what we were looking for, and he wouldn't tell me. He just grabbed me really hard and wouldn't let go even when I told him it hurt. Then he left me up above ground while he came down here and a big monster came at me. I fell back, a-all the way down here... and, and he didn't even care that I was bleeding. He told me to help him collect the rocks and, you know... k-kept saying that I needed him more than he needed me, and that he could replace me really easily... and then when... when he kept being mean, I shoved him..." Morty looked down and stopped talking.

"Well, don't feel bad about that." Rick frowned. His grandson looked like he felt guilty. "Sounds like he deserved it... Just don't ever shove me... He deserved that shit. I don't." Rick laughed, but stopped when Morty didn't smile back. "Don't feel bad, Morty." Rick repeated. "You just shoved him... I fucking killed him, and I don't feel bad for a fucking second."

"I shouldn't have shoved him." Morty was still frowning. "He was mean, but I didn't have to get violent, because then he got violent... but I kinda deserved it, since I shoved him first..."

Rick shook his head. "What did he do?"

"He hit me." Morty looked down at his feet.

Rick scoffed as he knew he needed to explain to Morty why he wasn't in the wrong in this situation. "Well, first off, the guy kidnapped you... That alone is worthy of a good shove... And if he was saying shit about replacing you, and grabbing your arm even when you told him he was hurting you... Yeah, he deserved to be shoved... I mean, maybe you're askin' the wrong person if you want a 'violence is bad' answer... because, you know... I just fuckin' killed the guy... But he didn't need to hit you... I doubt your little shove hurt him. He could have held back. It's easy. You realize how many times I've wanted to hit you?"

Morty looked somewhat shocked. "No..." His eyebrows furrowed with worry.

"Good." Rick nodded. "That's because I've got some fuckin' restraint."

"You wan- You want to hit me sometimes?" Morty frowned.

"I don't want to, Morty." Rick rolled his eyes. "It's like a figure of speech... Like, when you're-" he paused and burped a long, loud burp before continuing his explanation, "being really frustrating, and for a second I feel like I want to destroy everything and everyone around me... You know... but then I think, 'Hey, Morty doesn't deserve that. He didn't mean to fuck up again,' So I don't actually hit you. I want to, but I don't want to."

Morty didn't seem to feel very comforted by this.

"God damn it, Morty." Rick sighed as he focused back on fixing the portal gun. "You're overthinking everything again. You want to hit me sometimes too... I can see it in your fucking eyes. Everyone wants to hit their family all the fucking time. Just the ones who don't end up in jail know how to hold themselves back."

"I don't ever want to hit you." Morty disagreed, but kept his arms wrapped around Rick's arm and continued leaning against the man's shoulder. He seemed slightly disturbed by Rick's words, but still trusted him enough to not distance himself from the man. "Th-thanks for not actually doing it, I guess." He added with a small shrug.

"You're welcome." Rick replied as he squinted down at his gun. He found the part that was causing it to no longer function, its power source was cracked and part of it was crushed to ashes and dust. Now he just needed to fix it.

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	5. Chapter 5

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Chapter 5

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Morty yawned as he leaned heavily against Rick's shoulder, gripping the man's arm and watching him work on the portal gun. He was much more exhausted than usual - probably from a mixture of his usual reasons for being tired (no sleep, nearly dying...) as well as being drugged by the weird worm-like creature that had grabbed him and soaked him in its gross slime.

He was so glad his real Rick had come to find him. He shuddered to think what might have happened if real-Rick hadn't shown up when he did. First, his grandfather had saved him from the worm-like monster, which, apparently, had planned to eat him alive. Second, the other Rick had come back only minutes later. If Morty hadn't known any better, he would have gone with the more abusive man. He didn't know a second Rick was trying to steal him. He knew the guy was mean, but just thought his own Rick was being especially cruel.

"What do you think the other Rick wanted me for?" Morty wondered as he fought to keep his eyes open.

Rick shrugged. "Same thing any Rick wants a Morty for..."

"To use me as a shield?" Morty frowned as he absent-mindedly rolled some of the stones on the ground under his fingertips.

"Probably." Rick agreed as he fiddled with one of the glowing stones trying to cram it into a nook inside his gun before tossing it toward the wall and searching for a smaller one. "I don't mean to sound cruel, but yeah... A lot of Ricks out there only want Mortys for practical reasons."

"Yeah..." Morty frowned. "I could tell he didn't like me."

"Ricks generally don't like anyone..." Rick reminded him. "So... you know, don't take it personally."

"Why do you like people more than other Ricks do?" Morty wondered as he brushed some dust off a glowing rock which had lain among regular rocks. He stuffed the plebnarstone into the pocket of the lab coat Rick had lent him and went back to sifting through the rocks and dirt on the ground around him.

Rick scoffed, but continued staring at the portal gun as he pushed another glowing stone into it and pressed a button to test it. "Fuck." He mumbled as he threw this stone at the wall as well. "I do not like people, Morty." He defended.

"I think sometimes you do though... You've got friends, and you care about your family." Morty reminded him. "Remember when the timeline got messed up, and my collar was broken-"

"No!" Rick interrupted him. "Don't get cocky, Morty. Everything I do is for my own benefit. I don't like my friends, and I don't know when I've ever indicated otherwise. And my family is more of a pain in my ass than something I actually enjoy. That should be obvious to all of you by now."

Morty shrugged and stuffed another glowing stone into his pocket. He knew Rick cared about him, but the man certainly worked hard to try to hide that fact. That's why it was so easy to wonder - when his grandfather said something especially hurtful, it wasn't difficult to start thinking maybe he really did just use Morty without care. Rick's usual attitude was the reason Morty hadn't caught on that the especially rough and rude Rick wasn't his Rick.

"Do you think his other Morty died?" Morty wondered as he continued looking down at the ground and sifting the glowing stones out from the pile of regular ones and dirt.

"Maybe." Rick shrugged as he continued working on the gun.

Morty frowned. He was lucky his Rick cared about him a little more. He wondered how many Mortys had been left to die or sacrificed so their Ricks could live. There were probably Mortys living on foreign planets, lost and alone, hoping their Rick would come back for them, unknowing that their Rick had already moved on and replaced them.

"Fuck!" Rick yelled again as he angrily threw another glowing stone at the wall. "I can't use these raw... I'm gonna have to take apart the laser gun and borrow some components from it."

Morty frowned as he watched Rick begin tinkering with the laser gun with his screw driver. "Rick, what if another monster attacks us?" Morty wondered with a frown.

"We'll either have the portal gun fixed by then or we won't, Morty." Rick shrugged.

Morty gulped as he discarded a couple more glowing stones inside the lab coat's pocket with the others. "Maybe you should find a different way to fix the portal gun," Morty suggested. Up until now, Morty felt relatively safe, knowing his grandpa could shoot at anything that tried to hurt them. "If one of those things comes... we won't have any way to k-kill it if the laser gun doesn't work..." He noted.

"We're gonna die in this hole if I don't fix the portal gun, Morty." Rick told him in a calm voice."It shouldn't take too long to fix once I've got the stuff I need out of the other gun."

"W-what if something attacks us before then though... while neither gun works?" Morty frowned.

"Then we'll probably die, Morty." Rick stared down at him for a moment as though he was asking the dumbest questions he'd ever heard.

Morty knew that they'd die if something attacked them while they were defenseless... The question was rhetorical. He didn't want an answer to it so much as he wanted an alternative plan. Morty looked nervously down the tunnel and shrunk down closer to Rick, even his grandfather couldn't actually save him if a giant monster with the ability to practically paralyze its prey attacked them.

When Morty heard a noise, he audibly yelped and gripped with panic at his grandfather's sleeve. "What was that?" He gasped, staring down the tunnel and pressing himself as close to Rick's arm as he could. "Hurry up, Rick!" He urged.

"Calm the fuck down, Morty." Rick grumbled as he finished unscrewing a screw in the laser gun and popped it open. "You know, panicking never solved shit. I'm not gonna tell you we'll be okay, because, you know, we might not be... I'm just gonna tell you that you need to calm the fuck down. You're either gonna live or your gonna die. Freaking the fuck out won't change that."

Morty nodded, but gulped as he stared down the tunnel. He could swear he'd just seen a shadow way down there... He squinted his eyes and stared as he saw movement in the distance. The glowing rocks helped him see better than having no light source, but the lighting still wasn't great, considering many of the stones were half-embedded in the walls and ground. Morty leaned forward slightly and narrowed his eyes. Was that something moving in the distance?

"A-are you almost done, Rick?" Morty wondered as he looked at what his grandfather was doing. He was carefully taking a piece out of the laser gun.

"Almost." Rick continued to focus on his work as Morty looked back up and down the tunnel.

"Rick!" Morty screamed as he noticed whatever large, shadowy creature he'd seen before was moving closer at an alarming rate.

"Stop panicking, Morty." Rick spoke in an even voice, reaching down and stuffing the now-useless laser gun into an inside pocket of Morty's coat before looking over his shoulder. "Oh shit!" He yelled as he jumped to his feet, dragging Morty up off the ground with him. "Run!"

Morty winced as he put weight on his ankle. The effects of the goo that had absorbed into his skin earlier hadn't seemed to wear off yet. He felt exhausted and disoriented and his limbs ached from everything else that had happened. He tripped over his own throbbing foot as he tried to run on it. Falling face down onto the ground, Morty whimpered and caught himself on his hands and knees.

"Run, Morty!" Rick urged again as he pulled Morty up off the ground by his hand and dragged the boy after him. Tugging Morty along with one hand, Rick continued trying to work on the portal gun with the other as he ran.

"I can't!" Morty cried out as he tried to keep up with his grandfather. It turned out, he could in fact run, it just hurt quite a bit to do so. Each time he stepped on his ankle, horrible pain shot through his leg.

As Morty struggled to keep running even through the pain, Rick pulled him along, almost too quickly for Morty to manage to stay upright on his own feet, as he stumbled and nearly fell over and over again. Every time he nearly fell on his face, Rick yanked him back up by his arm and dragged him further through the tunnel.

"Shit!" Rick screamed as he abruptly let go of Morty's hand and even shoved the boy forward slightly.

Morty kept running for a moment, but it was mostly a prolonged stumble, until he stepped on his ankle in a way that was much too painful. He tripped and fell down against the ground, turning back to see where his grandfather had gotten to.

When he turned around, Morty gasped as he saw a creature similar to the one who had grabbed him before had wrapped itself around Rick's lower leg and had pulled the man up off the ground so that he was hanging upside down.

Morty could finally see what the creature actually looked like now that he wasn't so up close to it. The thing did look like a giant worm, but with several long, wriggling appendages, three gigantic, black eyes, and two sharp rows of teeth.

"Rick!" Morty cried out a fearful plea as he dragged himself painfully to his feet. He didn't know what to do.

"Stay calm, Morty!" Rick advised as he continued working on the gun even as he was being held upside down. "I almost got it!"

Morty gasped as he felt another of the creature's appendages wrap around his injured ankle and tug him off of his feet. With a pained whimper, Morty twisted his body over and clawed at the ground as the creature pulled him backward toward itself. He immediately felt more of the nasty goo dripping onto his skin, slowly incapacitating him.

Morty looked up to where Rick was hanging upside down by his ankle as the man snapped the pieces of the portal gun back closed and accidentally let the screwdriver fall to the ground as he gripped at the gun with both hands.

The screwdriver landed with a thud a few feet from Morty. He stretched weakly toward it, but the arm around his ankle tugged him further back. Morty painfully reached down and gripped at the thick appendage squeezing his hurt ankle. He cried out in pain as it squeezed tighter, hurting his already injured leg. Having no other plan in mind, Morty leaned down, brought his face down right by the wriggling arm wrapped around his ankle, and bit down on the creature's flesh as hard as he could.

A bitter, almost stinging taste filled his mouth as he bit down, but the creature's grip slacked enough for Morty to scramble away on the ground.

Coughing and spitting up as much of the nasty, numbing slime he could, Morty grabbed out for the screwdriver Rick had dropped as the wriggling creature snatched at him again. This time, Morty stabbed out at it with the screwdriver before it had a good grip on him. It shrieked a strange sound and retracted its arm.

Even through harsh, throbbing pain, Morty stumbled forward, stabbing at the monster's arms with the screwdriver over and over again until his makeshift weapon lodged in the creature's limb and it dropped Rick, who immediately shot the portal gun toward the floor to reveal a glowing, green portal. On his way down, Rick grabbed Morty's wrist and pulled them both through.

Morty landed on his feet and then fell down to his knees once they were safely inside the garage with the portal closed behind them. "Thanks for holding my gun, Morty," Rick commented as he stepped over to Morty, felt through his lab coat, and retrieved the gun. Morty watched as Rick made his way over to his work bench and placed both the portal gun and the laser gun down on its flat surface.

"Could you hand me that screwdriver, Morty?" Rick asked.

Morty stared at him with unbelieving eyes. The whole room seemed to spin around him. He felt like he was sitting in a boat on rough waves. "H-how can you be this calm?" Morty stuttered as he put his hand against his own chest and inhaled shaking gasps. He felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. "We just almost died, Rick!"

"We didn't die though, Morty." Rick replied, staring at his grandson for a few silent moments. Morty still stared back, waiting for a better answer. "I dunno, Morty..." Rick shrugged. His pupils were huge. "That plebworm slime must mix well with alcohol. I'm feeling niiicee..."

Morty frowned. "I'm not." He noted. Now that his life wasn't in immediate danger and all his adrenaline was wearing off, Morty realized he was feeling even more disoriented and drained than the first time the monster had attacked him. "I think I swallowed some of it." He pouted.

"Lucky." Rick laughed as he started sifting through some of the drawers under the workbench. "You got that screwdriver?"

"No, Rick." Morty exhaled as he let himself fall against the floor. He closed his eyes and focused on breathing. "I think it's stuck in that monster's arm..."

Rick sighed with annoyance and continued going through the drawers.

Lying on his back on the garage floor, Morty forced his eyes open and glanced in his grandfather's direction. Rick didn't seem at all phased by everything that had just happened. Morty felt like he'd just taken every drug in existence and had been thrown into a helicopter's blades.

He wasn't sure if it was the poisonous slime, exhaustion, or a combination of both, but Morty simply couldn't keep himself awake at this point. With an exhausted exhale, he allowed his eyelids to fall closed.

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	6. Chapter 6

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Chapter 6

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Rick closed the drawer under his workbench and turned back toward his grandson. "You better buy me a new screwdriver since you-" He stopped himself in mid-sentence when he noticed Morty seemed to be passed out on the garage floor. "Shit." Rick winced as he paced across the floor and knelt down.

Putting his fingers against Morty's throat, Rick felt for a pulse. It was there... just rather slowed down. A side effect of the plebworm's slime, no doubt. He put his hand on Morty's chest. The boy was breathing, but each breath was very minimal - so small he could barely even detect his grandson's chest rising and falling. Morty seemed to have a more noticeable reaction to the plebworm slime than Rick did - probably because Rick's had been absorbed through his pant leg, and Morty had been attacked by the worms twice. Rick also tended to need more of most mind-altering substances than the average person to get him the same amount of high. He was too tolerant to drugs at this point.

"Damn it, Morty." Rick grumbled to himself. Why did his grandson always have to get attacked by everything everywhere they went? He stood and paced across the room to a small cabinet which held a lot of the resources he used for quick fixes of serious injuries.

Morty didn't actually have any serious injuries, really, but the sprained ankle would be too annoying to let heal naturally and the scrapes and bruises would definitely get Rick in trouble with Beth and Jerry. So he found a bottle of fluid that, when injected, realigned bones and healed breaks, cracks, and sprains instantly, along with a jar of cream that healed cuts in the skin and a third concoction that helped bruises disappear twice as fast as normal. The effects of the plebworm slime, Morty would just have to sleep off. Rick couldn't fix that... and he certainly didn't want to in his own case. He felt so fucking relaxed - besides being a bit worried for Morty's sake, of course.

With careful hands, Rick lifted Morty up off the garage floor and laid him down on one of the tables he had set up down here. It wasn't unheard of for Rick to work on human experiments, and Morty had been his test subject on more than one occasion, so he was pretty well-prepared for something like this.

Rick felt around in his lab coat, which Morty still wore, until he found his flask. He took a long drink from it before sticking it back inside the coat, frowning when he felt something small and cold inside the pocket. He took the flask back out and dug his hand into the coat's pocket, bringing out a small handful of the plebnarstones - the valuable resource they'd been surrounded by, but which he hadn't ended up having time to collect.

Rick felt a small smile pull at his lips as he looked down at Morty's face. The boy's eyes were closed, he had a bruise on his cheek, a gash across his forehead, and dried blood caked on the side of his face, but he looked otherwise content. It warmed Rick's cold heart to know that even while his grandson had been sitting next to him, cowering in pain and fear, he'd expended the effort to collect some of the stones. He certainly didn't have to, and Rick hadn't expected him to, but Morty had done him the favor anyway.

Placing the handful of stones carefully on the table-top, Rick put his hand softly against Morty's face, brushing his thumb carefully over the bruise the other Rick had made there. He needed to get to work fixing this mess before he got yelled at by his daughter or son-in-law. He also wanted to make sure whatever pain his grandson felt wouldn't last longer than it had to.

Carefully, Rick pulled Morty's limp body up off the table enough so that he could remove his lab coat. The ordinarily white garment was stained with dirt and blood and even some purpleish slime from the plebworm that had attacked them. It was also torn in several places. Rick frowned and tossed the garment to the side. It wasn't like Rick hadn't ruined countless lab coats already.

Now that Morty wasn't wearing Rick's coat, the old man could see his injuries better. In the darkness of the tunnel, they hadn't seemed like such a big deal, and they really weren't, but they still made Rick angry. He was particularly pissed off about the finger-shaped bruises on Morty's arm, circling around his little wrist and forearm.

Being nice wasn't something Rick often did, but he was a saint compared to this other guy. The bruises on Morty's arm were pretty dark. There were even more bruises than Rick had fingers, indicating that the guy hadn't just grabbed the kid too hard once. There was really no need for anyone to be so forceful with the boy.

Rick wished he could kill the other Rick again now that he could see the guy's handiwork in a better light. The thought of anyone hurting his Morty made his blood boil. It kinda hurt his heart that Morty hadn't known the man wasn't him. He went to great lengths to make sure Morty didn't ever feel too appreciated, as he didn't want the kid getting cocky, but Rick would never physically hurt him on purpose. He thought Morty knew that... He shook those thoughts out of his head and focused back on the task at hand. It didn't matter that the other Rick had been too rough. He was gone now, and Morty's injuries were about to be.

First, Rick filled a syringe with the fluid to heal Morty's ankle. That was the most important injury he needed to fix - the only one that really mattered that much. Rick jammed the syringe into Morty's leg, pressed it down, and then removed it, watching as Morty's swollen ankle resumed its normal appearance. He tossed the empty syringe to the floor and looked Morty over. His other injuries were minor, but probably still painful, and definitely something he didn't want to get yelled at for. There was an awful lot of dried blood in the way of seeing exactly where two of the cuts even began and ended though.

Rick walked across the garage, over to a sink he kept here for practical purposes, and grabbed a paper towel, wetting it before making his way back over to the table. He would be able to work on applying the creams for the cuts and bruises better if he got all the dry, crusted blood out of the way.

Rick made quick, somewhat careless work cleaning up the spots of blood that mattered and then put the creams over each of the injuries that seemed to need it. Once the job was done, Rick celebrated with an extra-large gulp from his flask. He was starting to feel pretty fucked up... It seemed the slime, while producing a really awesome affect on him right away, was hitting him harder now. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, of course. Rick liked getting abso-fucking-lutely wrecked.

With an exaggerated exhale, Rick sat down on the edge of the table next to Morty and stared at the wall. It almost seemed to be visibly vibrating as he stared at it. It even appeared to reverse-melt, as if it was expanding up from the floor. Rick stared with his mouth hanging open as shadows on the wall seemed to dance without aid of light, the clock, which hadn't worked in ages appeared to start ticking backwards, and Rick's own breathing and heartbeat seemed to echo through the room.

Maybe the plebworm's slime had an after effect he wasn't previously aware of. That would explain why Morty hadn't passed out after the first worm attacked him, but seemed so fucked up now - it was all catching up with him at the same time. And now it was catching up with Rick too.

Rick leaned back against the table, pushing Morty slightly over so they'd both fit. He stared up at the garage ceiling. The room seemed to almost spin around him. He was definitely going to have to go back and wrestle one of those worms to get more of this shit. He'd learned long ago that the slime was a sort of sedative, but he never knew it was the awesome kind.

As he lay against the table, hearing his own heart slowly beating in his chest, he stared up at the ceiling that slowly seemed to become the floor. Rick's eyes widened as he gripped the edge of the table so he wouldn't fall off into the ceiling.

"Gah - Holy shit, Morty!" Rick shouted as he swung his arm out over Morty's chest so he wouldn't fall off the table either. It took Rick a few seconds to realize the table was actually still quite grounded. There was no fear of anyone falling off. "Fuuuckk..." Rick blinked slowly as he turned to face his grandson, who was still unconscious next to him.

Whatever sort of high this was, it seemed to come on really slow, and then really, really fast. Rick felt exhausted. He closed his eyes and joined Morty in unconsciousness.

... ... ... ...

Morty groaned as his eyes fluttered open. For a moment, he wondered if the long ordeal he'd just been through was real life or a dream. It became apparent that it had indeed happened, however, when he was awake enough to understand where he was right now.

He wasn't in his room in his own bed. Instead, he lay against the surface of a table in the garage. Rick was very sound asleep next to him, snoring slightly and drooling. His hair was an even bigger mess than usual and his arm was draped over Morty's chest as if trying to protect his grandson from something.

As he continued lying still on the table, it occurred to Morty that he wasn't in pain anymore. Bringing his hand carefully up to his temple, he felt the spot where there had previously been a rather nasty gash along with quite a bit of half-dried, sticky blood. The injury was gone now, along with most of the blood that had come from it. His scraped up arm was healed as well. Morty stretched his leg, smiling when he felt his ankle no longer hurt either. Rick must have fixed him up while he was asleep.

For a man who so often claimed to not care about anyone, Rick sure was careful when it came to Morty. Even though Morty knew Rick was bound to hurt his feelings again probably sooner rather than later, and have him wondering if Rick ever cared about him at all, in this moment, Morty felt rather content. Rick had come to find him when he went missing, had given him his coat, protected him from harm, and mended his injuries. The other Rick hadn't cared even half as much. Morty's Rick was something special.

Morty smiled and yawned as he stared tiredly up at the garage ceiling. The exhaustion he felt now was different than what he'd felt before. He no longer felt drugged and emotionally drained. He just felt a sleepy sort of tired.

Rolling over, Morty curled up under Rick's arm as his grandfather continued lying still next to him. He was so glad to have his own Rick back. Whether the man could admit it or not, he cared about Morty. Rick obviously didn't want that to be known, but it was too late. Morty knew it. He snuggled closer. Even lying against the hard table with no pillow or blanket, Morty felt comfortable here. He felt safe.

Closing his eyes, Morty exhaled tiredly. He didn't know what he'd done right in his life, but somehow he'd ended up with the Rickest Rick of them all...

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THE END


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